Acer seized second place in worldwide computer sales in 2009, thanks, in part, to strong sales of its Acer Aspire One netbook. (Source: Techshout.com)

Taiwanese company says American vendors can't keep up with aggressive pricing

Hewlett Packard, the world's largest computer maker, and Dell,
third place in world sales, are powerful players. However, both
-- especially
Dell – suffered during the recession. Meanwhile Taiwanese
OEMs ASUSTek and Acer, whose sales were heavily comprised of
low-priced netbooks (the Eee PC and Aspire One, respectively), posted
impressive growth.

Acer founder Stan Shih, who helped grow his
company into Taiwan's top computer-maker, said this differential
response is merely a
sign of trouble to come for American companies.

He is
quoted by Taipei-based Commercial Times as saying, "The
trend for low-priced computers will last for the coming years.
But US computer makers just don't know how to put such products on
the market... US computer brands may disappear over the next 20
years, just like what happened to US television brands."

Acer's
talk may sound like the same kind of tired corporate rhetoric that
executives often spout off. However, one must consider Acer's
impressive performance -- in 2009 the company passed
Dell to become the world's second largest computer maker, and
according to Digitimes, it is projected to in 2011 pass HP to
become the world's top computer maker. That progress has been
heavily driven by aggressively priced PCs, especially netbooks.

One
odd man out is Apple, Inc. Apple, a U.S. firm based out of
Cupertino, California, traditionally prices its notebooks well above
even HP or Dell, let alone the Taiwanese. However, it continues
to grow
and gain marketshare, perhaps proving that Acer's prediction of
the American computer maker's demise premature.

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Dell is definitely over-priced without a question. I really love the Latitude E6400 that I use at work, but there is no way that it should have cost almost $2,000 for what I got. I would have asked for a mid-level XPS laptop instead had I known.

By the way, display port is worthless. I would take HDMI instead in a heartbeat.

Dell Outlet is your friend. I got an E6400 with an Nvidia Quadro NVS160 for $600 after 20% off. There was some sticker residue on the back and on the LCD itself. Nothing Goo Gone could take care of. Looks brand new. Oh and if you do go through Dell Outlet I highly recommend the NBD warranty for only $99. It's SOOO worth it.

The thing none of you guys understand is the business model. Dell is not over priced I shop for computers 4 - 8 times a year and most times I get Dell or HP, because after sales and such they are cheaper and better configured than anything acer can offer. Now if I go out and do not look for deals then I would probably be better off with an off the shelf Acer. The thing is you cant really do much configuring with acer. So you pay a little more to configure the computer the way you like but you can get quick ship models or ones at newegg prebuilt that are well priced. Now that Dell is moving into retail you will see more of this.

Also cheap is not everything in Asia Dell and HP are premium brands which may be skewing the Acer execs opinion. You pay alot for those brands there. But if cheap was all that it was about Apple would be dead.

The point should be taken though HP and dell need to get out some pre configured systems for low prices. And flood the market with these.